1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to an insulated assembly of insulated electric conductors wherein each conductor is individually insulated in an anodized aluminum dielectric layer, bundled together in various configurations, and then the bundled configurations are insulated in an anodized aluminum dielectric layer.
2. Background Art
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,572,980, a single stranded copper conductor with an anodized aluminum dielectric layer was disclosed. That application described an insulated electric conductor for carrying signals or current having a copper core of various geometries with a single thermally conductive dielectric layer of anodized aluminum (aluminum oxide). That application is incorporated herein by reference.
Conventional wire assemblies having polymeric insulation around copper wires can typically tolerate ohmic (or other) heating of up to approximately 250° C. Once a copper wire heats to temperatures beyond 250° C., the polymeric insulation can break down or melt, thus resulting in short circuits and related failures. Additionally, polymeric insulation is limited in its capacity to tolerate environmental hazards such as exposure to salt spray and other environmental conditions as are typically encountered by insulation employed in automotive applications.
While the single copper conductor described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,572,980 would be capable of tolerating heating (ohmic and otherwise) in excess of 250° C. and while the aluminum oxide coating could withstand environmental conditions encountered in typical automotive applications such as salt spray, employing single strands of the copper conductor described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,572,980 may require the attachment and positioning of hundreds or thousands of individual conductors on and throughout a typical automobile. It is desirable to have bundles of insulated copper wires having high heat tolerances that are resilient to environmental conditions and that have a high packing density permitted by thin insulation thicknesses. The embodiments of the invention described below address these and other problems.